What is the benefit of booking on Orbitz? I use Orbitz as more of a search engine function to see all fares at once. I then go directly to the airline website to take advantage of bonus miles, not paying a booking fee, and the comfort of booking my ticket directly with the airline and not a travel website (I realize the airlines own a share of Orbitz.)

Plus the fact that Orbitz charges $14 to have it sent to you and there is a $5 or $10 processing fee. Half the time it's best to do as you say, see all the fares at once then go to the airline site and book there.

The only time I thought Orbitz gave me a good offer that I couldn't find anywhere else was on an ATL-MAN route. $200 savings even after the shipping and processing fees!

Expanding this to other internet booking sites, is there really much price difference, if any, between them all now? I use Expedia mostly, because it's got a nice interface and searches most airlines and hotels. Fast, too. Their surcharge usually only seems to be £5-£10 more than what the airline charges, which is not bad considering they're offering a search service and send you the paper tickets.

Travelocity's undated search (find out which days the fare is the cheapest for a particular route) is also extremely useful but their hotel search can be diabolical sometimes - finding hotels that are literally 10s of miles away from where you're looking.

Travelocity also has the distinction of being the site that sold me bogus tickets. Took my money, sent me paper "tickets", but never actually booked the travel with the airline itself. That was the last time I ever used a travel site for anything other than as a search engine. I always book directly on the airline's website nowadays.

I use Orbitz as more of a search engine function to see all fares at once. I then go directly to the airline website to take advantage of bonus miles, not paying a booking fee, and the comfort of booking my ticket directly with the airline and not a travel website

I was doing this the other day looking for a flight to MKE. On Orbitz it quoted a price of $300. Delta.com quoted a price of $900.00 for the same city pairs and the same flight numbers.

Only time I use it is when they find cheaper prices on multiple carriers to a destination I want to go. Example, I just looked up a flight from DEN-HKG. Orbitz found a price of $891.88 for a trip that includes Delta, Northwest, United and Korean. Lots of stops but for that price. Cheapest on United's website is $1875.88. If there is a difference like that I will book on Orbitz, if its only a few dollars I will usually book on the airline as they usually offer a few bonus miles.

Dinker

Two rules in aviation, don't hit anything and don't run out of gas, cause if you run out of gas yer gonna hit something.

I have also had experiences where Orbitz listed a lower fare than the airline itself. Once was on Aloha, for a one-way ticket HNL-OAK. Another was United, MRY-MFR; in that case United had the same fare but for the flights I wanted was showing a higher price. My roommate also had a case where Expedia was cheaper than American's web site.

I have found Orbitz's flexible date search to be helpful, especially during peak travel periods where availability varies greatly from one day to the next.

However, I have seen that feature, along with the "nearby airports" and hotel search don't always show the best price at first; when I narrow things down (for example, select a specific hotel star rating and distance) sometimes a lower price will show up than was showing before.